Children's issues discussed at roundtable ahead of Family Day

The municipal division for the protection of children's rights in Chisinau will propose a set of legislative modification aiming to remind the parents of the children's rights, said the division's head Svetlana Chifa at a round-table themed “The Family of the XXI Century: problems and aspirations”, Info-Prim Neo reports. Svetlana Chifa said that one of the greatest problems of the families in Moldova is poverty, which often forces people to leave abroad in search of a job, and as a result children are left behind. There a children doomed to poverty in families of alcohol abusers. To identify the most important areas where intervention is needed, the division will propose a questionnaire to collect suggestions as to how such children can be helped. Marina Popovici, head of the Interior Ministry's division for minors, said child abuse cases are also becoming more frequent. In four months of 2010, criminal proceedings were started in 190 cases where minors became victims, including cases of violence, killing and infant-killing, and rape committed by stepfathers. Another issue discussed at the round-table meeting was the low birth rate in Chisinau. Mariana Buciuceanu, head of the demography department at the Academy of Sciences, says the causes of are numerous – couples don't own a home and the often strained circumstances make mothers choose a job over maternity.